In Memoriam Sir Alan Budd (1937-2023)

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research is very sad to hear of the death of Sir Alan Budd, who was a prominent policymaker and macroeconomist.  He was a regular visitor to the Institute and served on the Council of Trustees, stepping down in 2019, whereupon he was made an Honorary Fellow.  He had been an exceptionally supportive and kind colleague at a time of great change in the country.

His policy work at HM Treasury, on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at the Bank of England and as Chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) demonstrated an exceptional level of influence on UK macroeconomic policy.  As Chief Economic Adviser to HM Treasury he was knighted 1997 and promoted to Knight Grand Cross in 2013 for his services to economic policy.

His original academic work at the London Business School was closely aligned to that of the Institute and, along with the Liverpool and Cambridge models, formed the bedrock of the development of macroeconomic forecasting in the UK.  While the uncertainties inherent in such activity remain in no way diminished, and although we shared his healthy scepticism of planning, we could agree that the act of thinking through the implications of news or shocks in a structured manner remains incredibly helpful.  We are releasing a paper he wrote for the National Institute Economic Review, The Debate on Fine-Tuning: the Basic Issues, in 1975.

We will all miss him.   Our condolences to his family and all who knew him.